Saturday, February 2, 2013

I'll kick it off with Scott Brown's decision not to run for MA-Senate. Not a huge surprise, but it certainly could have gone the other way...and his decision probably moves the seat from about a 40% chance for a GOP win to around a 10% chance, maybe less.

(And, yes, it's also a setback for the younger Senate. Don't want to forget that part of it).

Congressional confirmation hearings are overrated as far as their effects on confirmation are concerned. Hagel may or may not be confirmed, but I very much doubt that his mediocre performance will wind up mattering.

5 comments:

McConnell's announcement that the Republicans will filibuster anybody appointed as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau until they get the concessions they want, combined with Graham's threat to put a hold on Hagel until he gets what he wants on Benghazi, matter by showing that even after the filibuster "compromise" Republicans are going to continue to play hardball on appointments.

There's a reason that Scott Brown announced on Friday. The day before, his chosen candidate for state party chair (a former staffer), was elected by a single vote margin. She won, in part, based on a whispering campaign that had her as the only party chair that Brown would consider running under. Having secured her election, it was then safe for Brown's true intentions to be made known.

On the gun control front, 1100 soldiers of the Army Special Forces signed a letter opposing new gun control -- I think that might be unprecedented.

@couves, you really think it's significant that such a letter could get 1100 signatures from current and former Green Berets? It's a large enough group that it doesn't surprise me at all, and the letter doesn't contain anything new and significant either. How did this matter?

MP, it’s the first time I’ve seen servicemen, as a group, speak out on this issue. By itself, it’s not going to change anything, but it could change the debate if we see more of it.

Anon, I heard about that, but it’s not obvious to me what you think the significance is. Servicemen with PTSD generally take their own lives, not the lives of others -- to the extent that we’re now losing more of them to suicide than to the enemy.